Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News Savannah Christian running back Jalen Myrick gets a block from teammate Wade Benton as he looks for some running room against the Jenkins defense during Friday night's game at Garden City Stadium.

Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News Savannah Christian's Ivan Reese stares down Jenkins High defensive back Eric Johnson as he looks for running room during Friday night's game at Garden City Stadium.

Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News Jenkins High quarterback Paris Baker slips past Savannah Christian's Scott Brannen as he races to the end zone for a score during Friday night's game at Garden City Stadium.

Trailing Jenkins by 14 points entering the fourth quarter, a young Savannah Christian squad showed the heart of a champion as the Raiders rallied late.

But the effort wasn’t quite enough as visiting Jenkins held on for a 21-20 non-region win over SCPS at Garden City Stadium on Friday night.

Jenkins senior Paris Baker, a standout linebacker last season, made his first start at quarterback for the Warriors, and he showed his athleticism all night.

Baker ran for 141 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries, before tweaking his knee in the fourth quarter and leaving the game. His biggest play came on a fourth-and-2 in the second quarter when he burst past the first wave of defenders before sprinting 54 yards for a touchdown.

“I felt comfortable and confident out there,” said Baker, who also completed six of 11 passes for 63 yards. “I wanted to lead our team to the win. But Savannah Christian played like a champion. They never gave up, but we kept our heads up and won it.”

The Raiders are the defending Class A state champions, but 15 important seniors from that team graduated, leaving this year’s team young and inexperienced.

Savannah Christian lost starting quarterback Brandon Thomas and linebacker Scott Brannen to ankle injuries in the second quarter. But freshman quarterback Chase Marini came in and played with poise in his first high school game.

Marini kept the mistakes to a minimum. He was 5 of 10 passing for 67 yards and rushed for 22 yards on six carries. His 40-yard strike on a streak pattern to Patrick Sovacool set up the Raiders’ final touchdown. Junior Ahman Johnson was effective at running back in the second half for the Raiders, rushing for all of his 49 yards and scoring on a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs. The second came with 3:01 left and gave the Raiders a chance to tie it.

But an illegal motion call on the extra point moved the ball back and kicker Logan Tovar’s extra-point attempt sailed just wide right.

The Raiders got the ball back one more time, and moved the ball downfield when the Warriors had back-to-back pass interference penalties. But without any time outs left, the Raiders ran out of time. Marini completed a last gasp pass to Jalen Myrick, but time ran out.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the way these kids played tonight,” SCPS coach Donald Chumley said. “We had some injuries and were down two scores. They could have laid down, but they fought the way our teams have done in the past. I think we have a lot to look forward to. Jenkins came in here well coached and well prepared, they played a heck of a game.”

Savannah Christian looked good on the first offensive possession of the night as the Raiders marched 65 yards in 11 plays, all on the ground, for a touchdown.

But Jenkins came right back behind the running of Baker, who rushed out of the shotgun. Baker weaved through the defense from 12 yards out for a touchdown to end a 14-play, 67-yard drive. But the point after was wide left, and SCPS led 7-6.

Savannah Christian’s Thomas fumbled on the next possession, with Larry Williams making the recovery for Jenkins. Five plays later, Baker broke through for his long touchdown. A new kicker, Chazmin Willis, split the uprights for the extra point.

Jenkins running back Arkeem Byrd was effective in the first half, picking up all of his 55 yards in six carries before intermission.

Jenkins linebacker Justin Robinson had a big night, along with lineman Sincere Trinidad. Juan De La Rosa had four catches for 34 yards.

“The bottom line is we won this game, and I’m proud of what you guys did,” Jenkins coach Tim Adams told his players after the game.

Adams was impressed with Baker’s effort at quarterback.

“He’s learning a new position, but he made some great decisions with the ball tonight,” Adams said. “We made some mistakes and turned the ball over on downs twice when I thought we should have scored in the first half. We didn’t put them away when we had the chance.

“But I expected nothing less from Savannah Christian, we knew they weren’t going to roll over, they played tough football.”

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Raiders holding own against big public school! How? I thought they had like 1000 more athletes to choose from vs 1A private school. I know they were the defending state champs but to be able to almost beat a school with triple the amount of students is an embarrassment to my Alma Mata.maybe they should bring back Seth Gaspin to coach Football instead of Baseball? Hate to see when they play Bluffton high! Or MDS!